02/11/19 - Differences in Emotional Expressivity

When talking about emotional expressivity, one first thought appears on my mind, emotional expressivity between genders, I mean we all know that most women tend to be expressive with their emotions. The next picture expresses in a clear way what I try to say. This is not a rule; obviously, but it applies to most women. 

Now, talking about cultural differences in emotional expressivity. I would like to mention some good examples that always occur here in my country: Perú. As you may know, there are different regions inside Perú, we have the jungle side, the coast side and the andean side. Each of these regions have marked features. Just to mention an example: people from the jungle side is very talkative and easygoing; meanwhile, people from the andean side is close and they don´t like to speak a lot, they are like always shy. I remember I had a student in class, His parents and him were born in a city of the andean region, so they decided to move to Lima, and he was signed up at the school where I was teaching english, He joined the class after middle year vacations. During english classes, He always showed angry for everything, he fairly speaks, he never wanted to participate, so once after classes I decided to talk to him in private, I asked him why was he always mad at all, He always showed a pucker frown, his only answer was, that it´s the way I was raised up in Abancay (the city where he was born), during our whole conversation He always showed himself on the deffensive. So I dettected we had an issue here, which now I know was a difference in emotional expressivity, I realized he wasn`t know how to express his frustration when He didn´t understand any english lesson and that was why He always looked with an angry face during the whole class. On the other hand, in this same class I had this student from Venezuela, She was the opposite face, she was extremely talkative, she always wanted to participate in any board activity or game that I had for the class. 

So, by this point I had two opposite people in the same class, each one with their own high or less emotional expressivity. Whenever we had pair work activities I tried to make them work together, at the beginning as you may imagine He had his pucker frown face during the whole activity, but she could make him participate on the activities, her happiness was so contagious, once when I asked for volunteers; He pleasantly raised his hand and gave to the whole class his example. I was really in shock, so since that opportunity I tried to make this pair work together during pair work activities, and it definitely works, because little by little I saw how He was growing up not only in english area but also in other subjects because I talked to his school tutor teacher and she told me she will apply the same technique in her subjects. Now that I can share this personal experience I feel so proud of myself and of the way I did face this issue at class. What would you do if you have a similar situation in your classroom?, I would like to know maybe you have a different method or way to face it. We are here to teach one another. I´m anxious to read your comments.

Another example that appears on my mind is how men greet to another men in France, they kiss on the check, here in Perú, it would be transshipped, here men greet to another men by shaking hands or if they are relatives they offer a hug but they never kiss on the check, you know we live in a male chauvinist society so, that is not considered like a man way to greet.